Well, today is Super Tuesday and I am excited as bananas about it all! I hope that John McCain wins most of the marbles today on the Republican side (he is a good man and I have been pulling for him to run for President for a long time!), and I hope that Barack Obama emerges with tons of delegates on the Democratic side. Truth be told, I could live with either one as President. I do not agree with Senator McCain on the war in Iraq, but I do believe that he wants us out of there as fast as we can remove ourselves without endangering ourselves and without leaving an unqualified mess. I don’t believe in my heart that he wants us to remain in Iraq one minute longer than we have to. The question is, what are we trying to still achieve there? And what is the best way to achieve it? I would like to discuss this question in a future entry here.
The fact is, we have a remarkably wonderful slate of candidates for President this year. The world could do worse than Mitt Romney. And on the Democratic side we are equally blessed.
I would not be upset if Hillary Clinton becomes our next president. I consider her to be an extraordinarily smart person. And by “smart” I mean not simply intelligent (which she obviously is), but also “street smart” — which to me means “savvy,” “politically sophisticated,” and “uncommonly able.”
Still, having said all of that, I believe that Barack Obama is equally bright…and, moreover, stands a better chance of uniting our country, and maybe even healing our world — or, at least, moving us all closer to that.
Obama feels far more conciliatory and politically generous and — dare I say it? — politically “loving” than Ms. Clinton. That is, I think his approach to politics is gentler, more open to healing our collective wounds (and the world has plenty of them).
Can I give you an example of what I mean?
In one of the debates the Democratic candidates were asked if, as President, they would talk directly with the president of Iran or other foreign leaders who seem to oppose us in order to work differences out. Mr. Obama did not hesitate even a moment. Said he: “I would do so immediately, from my first day in the White House.”
Hillary Clinton responded, “No. Not at first. I would not want the Presidency to be used for propaganda purposes. I would want a series of meetings, first, at lower levels, to set the agenda for such an encounter, and to ensure that the meeting was not being used purely for propaganda, but because there was a real chance of getting something substantial accomplished.” I am paraphrasing here, but I believe I have accurately captured the essence of her response.
She also, in the days that followed that debate, called Mr. Obama politically naive for thinking that he could accomplish anything by simply sitting down immediately with people like the president of Iran. Obama then repeated to the press that he would do so immediately, and waste no time is getting such talks started.
Now to my mind Ms. Clinton’s tactic represents the approach of distrust, where everything is worked out ahead of time behind closed doors (including most of the ‘decisions’ that the two leaders would announce following their meeting), and the Politics of the Past, while Mr. Obama’s method represents the approach of trust in the process of open communication, and the Politics of the Future.
I believe it is the Politics of the Future which can move our world off its present path toward constant conflict and mass destructiveness. I believe Mr. Obama represents our best hope of reconciliation at home and around the world, and thus, our best hope for the future.
We’ll see, by tonight, whether the people in those 20-plus primary states agree. And if you are living in one of those states holding primaries or caucuses today, I hope you’ll do whatever it takes to make your voice heard!
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Now, on non-political matters…I spoke in this space yesterday about contentment, and I said, among other things, that contentment can be a path to enlightenment, a way to inner peace and a quiet joy in living.
I want to move forward with that discussion a little today and make it clear that I do not think of Contentment and Agreement as the same thing. It is not, in my cosmology, the same thing at all.
To be content is not to say that you agree with everything — or, for that matter, anything. It is merely to say that you are not agitated, not aggravated, not upset to the point of losing your inner peace, over any condition, circumstance, or situation. You may not agree with what you are experiencing in your life or observing around you, but you are content to “let it be,” in the words of that wonderfully insightful piece of music from the Beatles.
Oh, and by the way, letting something “be” does not mean that you have no intention of undertaking any efforts to change it. It simply means that you are not going to fight it, not going to oppose it. “Change” is “alteration,” not “opposition.”
So many people view change as “opposition” — and that is why they are no ineffective in producing change. The fastest way to change something is not to opposite it, but to simply shift it, alter it, modify it. Remember these two things:
“What you resist, persists.”
AND…
“Alteration is not altercation.”
We are taught to “resist not evil,” and there is a reason for that. The act of resisting something simply places it there more firmly. You cannot push against something that is not there. By resisting it, you place it there more firmly in your consciousness. Yet by acknowledging that it is there already, by looking right at it and calling it what it is, and owning it, and embracing it as simply part of the present reality, you can literally make its negative effect “disappear” from your experience. And soon, the physical manifestation of it often dissolves as well.
‘Contentment’ is knowing this. It is the space of being content with everything just the way it is, even as you seek to alter or modify it (or, in the language of Conversations with God, “recreate it anew in the next grandest version of the greatest vision ever you had”)
So it is possible to be content with conditions with which you do not necessarily agree. Indeed, the person who seeks present conditions and circumstances in his or her life as the perfect opportunity to show up in a particular way with respect to them is the person who has come to understand the true reason for all of life, the true nature of the life process itself, and the purpose of the soul’s having come into the body.
This is what ‘mastery,’ or, if you please, ‘enlightenment,’ is all about. This is what brings us inner peace, in a world of turmoil and in a life of never-ending personal challenge.
I wish you well today on your journey. I wish us all well as we encounter, embrace, and move through the conditions and situations and circumtances of this day. I wish us Godspeed as we modify and alter those conditions with which we do not agree because they do not present to the world or to ourselves an accurate idea and reflection of Who We Are.
And to those souls who experience their Continuation Day today, leaving physicality to once again be Home With God, I send my highest thoughts and my prayers of joy, for I know that there is no place more wondrous, more embracing, more forgiving, more comforting, or more gloriously happy and gently joyful than this place of experiencing again our True Identity.
= = = = = = = = = = = = =
You’ve been exposed to the concepts and principles from the Conversations with God material. Now the time has come to integrate this New Spirituality into our daily lives.
Come to Portland, Oregon, Friday night, February 1 and be the first to experience how to turn these spiritual truths into a functional reality! Join me on this special evening as I speak from my new book, Happier Than God, and engage in a lively dialogue with audience members in a “Q&A” session, followed by a book signing.
That’s this coming Friday evening in Portland, Oregon.
You may pre-register at:
www.regonline.com/SNSTakesFlight
Read Previous Post